• last year
The Yorkshire Post Editor, James Mitchinson, on the future of the industry and how you can support Yorkshire's National Newspaper.
Transcript
00:00 Hello, I'm James Mitchinson, I'm the editor of the Yorkshire Post and I'm here talking
00:05 to you today because of something I was asked at an event last week. I was afforded the
00:10 privilege of speaking to West Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce at a lunch event, having been
00:15 invited to do so by the chief executive there, James Mason. And James, I have to say, gave
00:21 me something of a hospital pass. I had to follow Ed Anderson, the indefatigable Lord
00:27 Lieutenant for West Yorkshire and for anybody who's not heard Ed speak, his stories are
00:32 always so entertaining, so brilliant and he's so knowledgeable. A quite intimidating act
00:39 to follow, I can tell you. But I was asked to follow Ed and talk about my 20 year career
00:43 in local journalism to date and how I came to be the editor of the Yorkshire Post. And
00:49 during that conversation with James, as I often do when asked about the future of good
00:53 quality, meaningful and impactful regional journalism, I found myself getting more and
00:58 more emotional and agitated because it's something I've given two decades to and will happily
01:04 give two decades more to if asked. That is, if it can win out against the tittle-tattery
01:10 of social media and the greedy tech platforms that have hoovered up all of the ad revenue
01:15 that once supported brilliant, vibrant local journalism and made it possible in every community
01:20 in this country. But one thing that really stopped me in my tracks was that as I was
01:27 in the Queen's Hotel last week, my voice cracking and my gestures becoming more and more animated,
01:33 trying to articulate my concern for what local journalism really is, there were people nodding
01:38 in agreement. You know, the consensus was that having compassionate, community-focused
01:44 journalists representing very often people who have the least in life, holding powerful,
01:50 sometimes self-centred, often greedy and powerful people to account, shining a light where bad
01:57 actors hate light being shone. There was agreement, you know, that's a good thing and must be
02:03 protected at all costs because, you know, some of the people who have the power to protect,
02:08 preserve and enhance effective scrutiny, especially in public office, they don't want an effective
02:13 press, they don't want a capable watchdog poring over their every move. You know, those
02:19 with things to hide would rather we didn't exist and weren't able to poke our noses into
02:23 the sometimes dodgy dealings. But then, without a Yorkshire Post, the county just doesn't
02:31 lose a fearless campaigning guardian, it loses so much more than that. And so, I was asked
02:38 a sort of killer question and the killer question that came from the room was, how can we have
02:43 helped you to keep doing what you're doing, to keep our Yorkshire Post strong and on its
02:48 A-game? And, of course, turning to us to advertise your business or products is what we've always
02:53 done brilliantly for hundreds of years. But we're now so much more sophisticated than
02:58 that. The Yorkshire Post can design, it can create complex, data-driven ad campaigns bespoke
03:06 to your target client and through powerful application, we've a proven track record in
03:12 industry-leading reach and campaign engagement which delivers results. And we know as well
03:18 as you do that consumer behaviour has really, really changed rapidly through digital and
03:23 convenience reasons and so have we. And hopefully, if you are to come and speak to us again,
03:31 we can show you some of that. So, if you're a business that believes in Yorkshire, one
03:35 that cares about this place, the people who call it home, and if you share my absolute
03:41 conviction that what myself and my team do day in, day out is worth fighting for, worth
03:46 protecting, the quickest, easiest and most effective thing you can do is become a subscriber
03:51 today because every single subscriber makes us stronger. We even offer corporate packages
03:57 so if you're a big business, you can give a subscription to the Yorkshire Post to the
04:01 people who work for you, perhaps as a thank you, but whilst also helping to protect good
04:07 quality meaningful journalism that I think makes Yorkshire a better place, I think makes
04:13 Yorkshire a more informed place and I also think it makes Yorkshire a more attractive
04:18 place. People on the outside know that this sort of scrutiny, this quality journalism
04:26 exists in this county and they understand the impact that that can have on institutions
04:34 within the community and within the county. So, really what I wanted to say was to that
04:40 person who asked, what can you do to help the Yorkshire Post? Become an ambassador,
04:47 become a friend, become a subscriber, because I can honestly tell you with my hand on my
04:53 heart that not every community has a Yorkshire Post, certainly not every county has a Yorkshire
04:59 Post and often I receive emails offering admiration, appreciation from outside the county saying
05:07 we used to have a newspaper like this, we used to have what you have in Yorkshire. So,
05:12 protect it, it's precious, look after it, because if it's gone, you'll certainly miss
05:17 it and I couldn't agree more with those sentiments. So, thank you for taking the time to listen
05:22 to me, I hope you can find a way to support your Yorkshire Post and to keep us going for
05:28 at least another couple of decades, if not a couple of centuries. Thank you for your